The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America

January 23, 2015

We have an unfortunate caricature of older people where we look at them as incapable of having constructive input and value. We are the only culture in history that values youth over the wisdom of age. These 3 brilliant minds explaining the dumbing down of America should be reason enough to start listening and respecting the wisdom of our elders.

Video 1

Why is America experiencing a decline in literacy? Why are so many American children afflicted with learning disabilities? Why are our schools promoting Ritalin and sex and drug education, but vigorously opposing intensive phonics and rote memorization of arithmetic facts?Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld has written nine books about public education in America over the past 35 years answering these and other baffling questions.

Video 2

This next speech was delivered at Pat Farenga's Learning In Our Own Way Conference in Woburn, MA, August 2005. John Gatto said it was the debut of this speech, which was later turned into a book by the same name.

Video 3

And here on an episode of History... So It Doesn't Repeat: they discuss the past, present, and future of public schooling, with Charlotte Iserbyt, former Sr. Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Education. We'll discover the root cause of the Deliberate Dumbing Down of Americans. Learning's the answer. What's the Question? It's all coming up on History... So It Doesn't Repeat!